CHAPTER III

FORESTRY AND THE FOREST

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF FOREST GROWTH

Whether the lumberman's judgment of economic influences leads him to

be optimistic or otherwise as to the profit of forestry in general,

he is most interested in the particular forest with which he has

to deal. He can neither accept nor dismiss the proposition

intelligently, much less put his ideas into actual practice, without

knowing something of the capability of his land to respond to his

effort. "What methods are best, what will they cost, and what will

be the result?" are questions which arise at the very outset. They

lead at once into the domain of technical forestry.

With us forestry has not been practiced long enough to furnish

demonstrated examples with which to answer such questions. We can,

however, profit by experience gained elsewhere, for the laws which

govern tree life are as universal as those which govern the life of

men and animals. In dealing with new species and new environments

we have no great difficulty in judging their future from their

past, which lies written plainly for those who care to study it.

While to some extent trees require elements obtainable only from

the soil, they are more independent in this respect than most other

forms of vegetation. Soil influences forest trees mainly by its

physical character, especially as this determines the moisture

contents. Very little nourishment is actually taken out of the

soil for, as someone has said, wood is nothing but air solidified

by sunshine. A tree's immense and complicated foliage system is

the laboratory with which it effects this transformation.

Since air exists everywhere and the chemical quality of the soil

is comparatively unimportant, the requirements of different species

for light, heat and moisture are what mainly determine their

distribution and habits of growth. And since heat and moisture are

largely climatic factors and fairly uniform in given localities,

it follows that the demand of a species upon light may practically

fix its habits and possibilities in those localities. The very great

variance of species in light requirement accounts to a large extent

for the composition of most primeval forests. It is of peculiar

importance in the management of forests by man because he cannot

control it as he may be able to control some of the other agencies

which affected the primeval forest, such as fire or seed supply.

SELECTION FORESTS

It would be unprofitable to discuss here all the many methods of

forest management which have proved to be best, technically, for

given species and combinations of species. Where market and

transportation facilities are highly favorable, as in Europe, the

timber owner can adopt the method which will bring the best results,

but here he has no such choice. He can but bear in mind certain

fundamental principles, uniformly applicable to large areas for

considerable periods of time. Roughly, however, our Western forests

can be classified by their adaptability to the two directly opposite

systems, known as clean cutting and selection cutting, of which

almost all methods are modifications.

A selection forest is one in which all ages of trees exist, from

seedling to maturity. It is the natural growth of species which

are tolerant of shade. In a natural state, undisturbed by cutting,

it maintains much the same aspect continuously, for as the oldest

trees die, their place is taken by younger ones. Obviously such a

forest must be composed of species, whether one or several, which

can grow beneath its own shade. The understories of varying ages

are as dense as their light requirements and the density of the

overwood permit.

The common hardwood forests of the East illustrate one type of

the natural selection forest. On the Pacific slope an example is

afforded by hemlock, either practically pure or mixed with white

fir, but probably the most typical is the ordinary Western yellow

pine under certain conditions. At its best this tree composes a

forest so dense that all young growth is shaded out, but everyone

is familiar with the frequent opener stand containing all ages.

The younger trees are often called blackjack.

EVEN-AGED FORESTS

On the other hand, trees extremely intolerant of shade occur only

in what the forester calls even-aged forests. Being unable to start

in the darkness of an existing stand of any considerable density,

they must seize opportunities to recover openings. The Douglas

fir of the Northwest, more commonly called red or yellow fir, is

an excellent illustration. In the interior states this species

reproduces under cover to some extent, because there is a stronger

light average throughout the year and because the stand is not so

dense. In the typical Douglas fir forests of Oregon and Washington,

discussed in this booklet, it never does so. While hemlock, cedar

and white fir undergrowth may be abundant, Douglas fir seedlings

are seldom seen except in burns, slashings, roads, or open spots

in the woods. And the fir trees composing the dominant stand are

of nearly the same age.

How, then, did this even-aged fir forest begin? Close scrutiny

will practically always find the answer in fragments of charred

wood. Long ago another similar forest occupied the ground until

lightning or an Indian's fire started a new cycle. Possibly recurring

burns swept the area many times before wind-blown seeds began to

start advance groups of fir, which, when fifteen or twenty years

old, themselves fruited and filled the blanks between them. Perhaps

destruction was not so complete and surviving trees made the process

a swifter one. Except in the very oldest forests, where remains

of the original stand have entirely rotted away, the history in

either case may be read in ancient snags and fallen logs.

Suppose, however, that fire had not come to aid the fir in perpetuating

itself? This, too, we can answer from the signs today. Every

Northwestern woodsman knows tracts of varying size (usually small

because fire has been almost universal) covered with big old hemlock,

white fir and cedar, with here and there a dying giant fir, perhaps,

but mainly showing fir occupancy only by rotting stumps and logs. No

sign of fire is seen. When this fir forest was approaching middle

age, the shade bearing species began to appear beneath it. As the

firs began to crowd themselves out, the later comers shot up with

the increased light and filled the open places. At last the even-aged

fir forest was completely transformed into a selection forest of

other trees, which will remain until some accident again gives

fir a chance if any survives near enough to reach the spot with

seed.

Douglas fir is not the only Western tree which usually grows in

even-aged stands. Lodgepole pine has the same habit, often supplanting

yellow pine after fire or logging. Western white pine is perhaps more

tolerant than Douglas fir, hence more likely to hold its own without

artificial aid, but is also more certain to compete successfully

if it has such aid. The same is true of tamarack.

NATURE AS A MODEL

We thus see that if economic reasons suggest it, we may use the

selection system as a basis for artificially managing the shade

bearing species such as hemlock, white fir, cedar, spruce, and even

Western yellow pine. We may cut the largest and oldest trees and

still have a well started second crop. If there is not much young

growth to leave, even a little is valuable. It may be decidedly

best to leave medium sized trees, which otherwise we would cut,

because they are still growing rapidly.

On the other hand, we see that this method would not be of any

advantage at all in insuring a second crop of Douglas fir, for

there is no young growth of this species to protect. The small and

medium sized trees, instead of being immature, are merely stunted

specimens of the same age as their larger brothers and unlikely

to gain in size if left. Selection cutting here would save for

future use only such understory of shade-bearing species as may

exist. Unless this is an object, the best plan is to cut clean and

get all we can. If we leave any fir at all it is for the purpose of

reseeding, not to secure better utilization of the trees themselves,

and whether we do so depends, theoretically at least, upon whether it

is better than artificial seeding or planting. In short, selection

cutting harvests the ripest trees of a perpetual forest, while

clean cutting destroys the forest in order to start an entirely

new and more rapid growing one.

Clean cutting is therefore necessary as well as natural in dealing

with intolerant trees. But it does not follow that the selection

system, although natural to tolerant species, is the only one adaptable

to them. While the one class demands light, the other does not

demand shade. It is merely capable of enduring it. Indeed, except

for the greater susceptibility of some species to extreme heat

and dryness when very young, as a rule shade bearing trees grow

much better if they do have ample light supply. Consequently clean

cutting may be the best system for these also under certain economic

conditions.

Besides its influence upon the occurrence of species in the forest,

light practically governs the physical form of the individual tree.

If grown in an opening and not artificially pruned, a tree will have

a conical trunk and living branches almost down to the ground. The

denser and consequently darker the forest, the more cylindrical the

trunk, the smaller the crown of branches and the greater the clear

length. The individual tree has no object in assuming a desirable

commercial form and does so only when deprived of side light by

numerous neighbors. Then it sacrifices diameter growth to height

growth in reaching for the top light necessary for its life. At

the same time the lower branches are killed by shade and drop off,

the scars being healed and eventually buried. The pin knots near

the center of a big clear log are the remains of branches which

when living were at the top of the young tree.

This is why, if it is to produce good timber, any forest must be

dense enough to cover the ground throughout the early part of its

life at least. When we see an excellent clear stand of mature Douglas

fir, for example, we may know that it consists of the comparatively

few survivors of a close sapling growth in which the weak were

gradually killed out after serving their office of pruning and

forcing the vigorous. Had only the trees we now see been on the

ground they would be worthless except for firewood. For the same

reason artificial forest planting must be thick, although the fillers

or nurse trees may be of inferior species if not of so rapid growth

as to gain the mastery.

Nature teaches many lessons which we must recognize in artificial

management or fail, but she is no more the best grower of forest

crops than she is of agricultural crops. We have to study natural

methods of forest perpetuation to see how they may be improved upon

as much as to adopt them as models. As a rule the virgin forest is

exceedingly wasteful of ground. The possibilities under intelligent

care are not indicated by nature's average, but by her accidental

best, and usually they far exceed even this. A fair comparison is

that of scientific farming with unsystematic gleaning from wild

and untended fields. The foregoing general principles of forest

growth have been purposely outlined very briefly so as to serve

as a mere introduction to their application or modification in

concrete cases.

MANAGEMENT OF SPECIFIC TYPES

DOUGLAS FIR (_Pseudotsuga taxifolia_)

Compared with most important commercial trees, the Northwestern

Douglas fir is remarkably easy to reproduce. It is an abundant

seeder, grows very rapidly, and inhabits a region with every climatic

advantage. In the typical fir districts of Oregon and Washington

deforested land which escapes recurring fire is usually restocked

naturally and with astonishing rapidity.

The exceptions to this rule are where the destruction of seed trees

has been wide and absolute, where already established competing

species are not removed with the original forest, and where the

surviving fir is too old to seed. The two latter conditions are

most prevalent near the coast, where the wet climate not only tends

to protect slashings from fire and thus preserve the undergrowth of

shade bearing species which escapes logging, but has also prevented

the accidental destruction in the past of the original fir stand

by fire.

In considering these natural results as they bear upon proposed

methods, we find actual destruction of seed supply the easiest

to avoid. If the original stand contains suitable seed trees we

can protect a sufficient number of them. If not, or if it is less

expensive, we can secure seed elsewhere. More frequent difficulty

will lie in determining whether the reproduction of fir should

be the sole effort, or whether it should not be sacrificed, if

necessary, in order to utilize an existing start toward a second

crop of other species. This is of peculiar and early importance,

for it usually also decides the question of protecting the slashing

from fire.

If the present stand is nearly pure fir, or if other species are

represented almost wholly by merchantable trees, there will be no

young growth worth saving. A new crop must be started from seed, and

since fir is the quickest and easiest to grow, as well as probably

the most valuable, it should be given every encouragement.

_Slash Burning and Its Exceptions._

In most cases this requires burning the ground after logging, not

only to reduce the future fire risk but also to provide a suitable

seedbed. Fir much prefers mineral soil to start in, as is easily

seen from the far greater frequency of seedlings on road grades

than on adjacent undisturbed ground covered with humus and rotten

wood. Hemlock has no such fastidiousness, even preferring rotten

wood as a seedbed. To protect the slashing from fire, therefore,

both preserves the most unfavorable conditions for fir and subjects

it to unnecessary competition by its rival. Hemlock seedlings already

established, seeds lying on the ground, and surrounding or surviving

trees which may scatter more seed, are all encouraged to shade and

stifle the struggling fir seedlings already handicapped by dislike

for their situation.

On the other hand, a large proportion of what we now consider typically

fir forest has a vigorous ground cover of hemlock and cedar which may

become merchantable many years before an entirely new fir crop can be

grown. The presumably greater value of the latter may be consumed by

the heavier carrying charge before returns are available. Certainly

if the promise of profit from other species and the difficulty of

establishing fir both reach the extreme, protection of the growth

already started is the best forestry if it is practicable. Moreover,

there may be considerable young growth of other species under conditions

which do not preclude satisfactory additional reseeding by fir.

When the owner is in position to plan far into the future, like the

Government or State, he may seek a temporary compromise, although

expecting eventually to secure pure fir. In such a case it may often

be best to utilize a first new crop of hemlock, but on harvesting

this a few decades hence to burn clean and start the next rotation

with fir only.

_Conditions Vary Methods._

Between conditions clearly suggesting one course or another, all

gradations will present themselves and no written rule can be given

for determining the dividing line. Much depends upon future relative

values of species, upon which the owner will have his own opinion.

More depends upon the character of existing young growth and consequent

adaptability to changed conditions after logging. Even a very thick

stand of young hemlock is unlikely to produce much if the overwood

has been very dense, for much of it may be so old and stunted by shade

that sudden advent of strong light will result merely in distorted

worthless branch growth or in killing it outright. Occasional vigorous

young trees just under present merchantable size are of doubtful

value because they are likely to blow down. The most promising

class of undergrowth found in fir forests of the Northwest is where

there has been sufficient light to produce a fairly thick stand

of young hemlock or cedar from five to fifty feet high.

If the undergrowth from which any second crop may develop is

insufficient to be worth much consideration, and reseeding must

be depended upon entirely, there may still be a question as to

species. If ample natural supply of fir seed can be expected, slash

burning is indicated. But if not and the owner is not prepared to

undertake the expense of artificial seeding, while at the same

time there is a promising natural hemlock supply, burning has no

object except the reduction of future fire risk. It may even retard

hemlock reproduction, both by destroying part of the seed supply

and by encouraging the growth of brakes on the area. The question

here is a really financial one. The cost of planting fir under these

conditions may be more than reimbursed by the resultant more valuable

and rapid growing crop. The owner must do his own conjecturing as

to future comparative values of the species.

So far we have discussed slash burning only in its sylvicultural

relation, finding that it encourages Douglas fir reproduction and

is consequently advisable in Northwestern Douglas fir types unless

there is an exceptionally promising second growth already started.

The balance will be further in its favor, in doubtful cases, because

of the protective feature. This is discussed more fully in another

chapter, but it is well to recall here that immunity from recurring

fire is the first essential of profitable reforestation. To secure

second growth by treatment which threatens its destruction later

is bad management unless the original saving is ample to cover

subsequent greater cost of protection. This is seldom the case.

_How to Reseed the Area._

Dismissing the exceptions noted, and returning to our rule that

another crop of Douglas fir is usually the best secured by following

nature--cutting practically clean, burning the ground and starting

a new even-aged stand--we have still to consider means of getting

this stand started. We may depend upon natural reseeding from trees

preserved for the purpose or from the surrounding forest, or we

may resort to planting. What are the comparative advantages of

these two methods and the circumstances governing choice between

them?

Hitherto, students of the subject have inclined to favor natural

reproduction. The very general second growth on deforested land

where no aid has been given indicates that excellent results will

follow slight assistance. Red fir fruits frequently and profusely,

and the seeds carry well in the wind. Burns have been known to

restock fully from seed blown from forested hills a mile or more

away. Moreover, while planting always involves initial expense,

sometimes much may be done to insure natural seeding with little

or no actual outlay.

There is danger, however, that in many instances this economy will

be more apparent than real if it is effected by actually leaving much

value in seed trees. Abroad and in the East there is comparatively

little loss in leaving even a fourth or fifth of the original stand

to furnish seed. The individual trees left may be good seeders,

although small. Little capital is tied up in them and they may

be utilized later to equal advantage. A mature fir forest of the

Pacific coast may have no small fruiting trees at all, and if left

such are likely to be knocked down in logging. To leave 20 per

cent of the large trees standing would sometimes tie up 20,000

feet to the acre, worth $40 or $50. Age and windfall may cause loss

equal to stumpage increase; moreover, they can never be utilized

without the same expense for roads and machinery that is necessary

in the original logging. The second crop will not be allowed to

reach a size requiring such equipment. In considering possible

windfall loss, not the normal wind but the possible maximum storm

within the entire life of the second crop must be reckoned with.

It is probably safe to say of mature Pacific coast fir that leaving

enough merchantable timber on a cutting area for adequate seeding

costs more than to use it and restock. Restocking can be done for

$2 to $10 an acre, which would leave a decided margin for profit

on the seed trees. And if we undertake to reduce this balance by

leaving very few seed trees, we decrease the certainty of successful

reproduction and increase the danger of entire failure through

windfall or accidental destruction when we burn the slashing. It

cannot be denied, however, that fire after planting would result

in complete loss, while seed trees might restock the area again

and again after such accidents.

_Natural Reproduction._

On the other hand, natural reproduction does not always require

the leaving of merchantable timber on the cutting area. Frequently

there are enough crooked or conky trees to serve the purpose. These

defects are not directly transmissible through seed to the offspring,

although conk is infectious and the young crop should be protected

by the removal of the diseased parents after it is well started.

Again, seeding from adjacent timber can often be relied upon. This

is a question of economy in logging operations, lay of the ground,

prevailing wind direction, fertility of the stand and other local

considerations. A valley with healthy fir woods on either side is

likely to seed up promptly even if a half mile wide. So is a flat

at the leeward foot of a hill timbered on the summit where the

wind strikes. A cutting on a ridge is correspondingly unlikely to

restock. Theoretically if a tract of timber were large enough, it

could be opened up by logging operations which, instead of proceeding

steadily from one edge, might skip every other landing or so until

the most remote portion was reached after a few years, and then

work back again, cleaning up the neglected portions after they

had seeded the first openings. The same effect sometimes results

from actual accidental practice.

It is apparent that rules cannot be laid down for general application.

Generally speaking, a logger interested in fir reforestation should

study his ground to see if naturally, or, with inexpensive aid, the

cut-over area will not reseed from the sides and from the cull trees

he will leave uncut. If not, he may leave a few merchantable seed

bearing trees provided the soil is such as to make them deep-rooted

and wind-firm. Groups are better than single trees because less

likely to be blown down and easier to protect from the slashing

fire. More should be left toward the windward edge. But before

tieing up any considerable sum in merchantable trees he should

consider the cost and safety of supplementing any shortage of natural

supply by artificial seeding.

WESTERN HEMLOCK (_Tsuga heterophylla_)

Since hemlock is so frequently associated with Douglas fir, the

principles governing its reproduction and its relative promise as a

second crop have necessarily been largely covered in the preceding

discussion of fir. The following remarks are merely additional.

We have seen that the perpetuation of hemlock is advisable only

where fir reproduction is difficult to obtain or will be at too

great a sacrifice of valuable existing hemlock. The first of these

conditions is confined chiefly to pure hemlock stands and to coast

regions where the fir is often too old to seed well. The second

may exist on the coast or in certain moist interior regions where

there is a heavy hemlock undergrowth. In either case natural hemlock

reproduction will be counted upon, both because it is practically

certain to occur and because if it were not certain and artificial

aid were necessary, we would abandon hemlock entirely and devote

our efforts to fir. In short, discussion of hemlock as a second

crop need not include systematic attempts to seed the ground but

may be confined to protection of what we have to begin with.

In a straight hemlock proposition, the protection question may

differ considerably from that involved by deciding between fir

and hemlock. In the latter case, because of the assistance of fire

to fir, the growth already on the ground must have considerable

value to warrant foregoing the several advantages of slash burning.

In the former, slash burning has no object except to reduce future

risk. The inference is that a much less promising stock of young

growth is worth protecting.

While this is true, there is danger of overestimating its value,

especially if care is not taken in logging. It has been remarked

that suppressed misshapen hemlock is not apt to make a healthy

growth, that windfall is a peril, and that if the previous shade has

been heavy, sudden opening to sunlight may be fatal. It should also

be remembered that even slightly injured young hemlock is worthless,

for it is almost certain to be attacked by borers. Anything which

deadens a small portion of the bark like axe blazes, fire scorch,

or scars from strap leads, is dangerous. Hemlock is more liable than

fir to general defects like black streak, borers, fungous disease

and mistletoe, therefore investment in reforestation needs the

maximum safeguard against them. In many instances better results may

be obtained from a new healthy seedling stand following a purifying

fire, even at some loss of time, than from well started young growth

which is unhealthy and likely not only to fail itself but also to

infect any seedlings which may come in among it. Consequently if

the slashing is not large, and reproduction from the sides may be

counted on, the above considerations, coupled with the reduction

of future fire risk, may suggest slash burning just as in the case

of fir. The remarks apply particularly if it is considered necessary

to log as clean as possible.

With a good, healthy start toward a new forest, however, it will

usually be best to keep fire out, for the material saved will warrant

greater expense in protection during the growing period. Representative

tracts, both on the coast and in the Cascades, have been studied

which showed that, with care in lumbering, enough good young hemlock

too small for logs or skids could be saved after present-day logging

of a heavy mixed fir and hemlock stand to produce in fifty years

11,000 or 12,000 feet of timber over 14 inches in diameter. This

would not be wholly additional to the second crop of seedlings

which might be produced if these trees were not preserved, for

the ground and light they use would be denied to the seedlings,

but undoubtedly the yield would be greater than could be secured

if they were destroyed.

This means that under similar conditions we may go still further

and actually apply the selection system, especially if the original

stand is nearly pure hemlock. So far we have discussed areas left

by present-day logging methods. Suppose, however, the owner of a

good tract of hemlock, having decided that conditions do not warrant

trying to get fir, is willing to modify his methods for the sake of

better hemlock returns at some future cutting. He would probably

do best to take out only the mature trees, leaving everything which

is still growing with fair rapidity. Greater light will stimulate

these immensely as well as encourage further seeding of the ground.

The few merchantable trees he spares, together with those now

unmerchantable, will, in perhaps twenty years, make another excellent

crop. By leaving a fairly dense stand he prevents the windfall

danger which threatens the survivors of too vigorous cutting, and

also prevents them from assuming the branchy form of trees which

receive too much side light. The fire danger is much reduced by

resultant shading of the ground and slightly by the lesser cover of

debris. In short, he makes the most economical use of the ground,

and the capital represented by the trees he spares is well invested.

To sum up, hemlock lends itself to almost every form of management.

Determination as to which is most advisable is governed by its

extremely variable manner of occurrence and by the local promise

offered by associate species. The foregoing discussion can only

serve as suggestive when considering given conditions.

WESTERN CEDAR (_Thuya plicata_)

Except for small swamp and river bottom areas, where the land is

likely to be more valuable for agriculture than for forest culture,

pure cedar stands are not common. Therefore it is as a component of

mixed stands that cedar is likely to become a problem in conservative

management. To some extent it presents a peculiar question by being

taken out alone for special purposes, such as poles and bolts,

independent of ordinary logging of sawtimber.

Western cedar is a typically shade-bearing tree and also endures

much ground moisture. Its occurrence as an under story and in swamps

does not indicate that it always requires such conditions, however,

but more often means merely that they protected it from competition

or from destruction by fire. Charred remains of very large, fine

cedar are often found on comparatively dry slopes where fire has

resulted in complete occupation by fir at present. Cedar's failure

to reappear there after removal is probably because its thin bark and

shallow roots allowed its destruction by a fire which was survived

by some better protected fir seed trees. Nevertheless, cedar must

be classified as a moisture-loving species and occupies dry soils

only in coast or mountain localities where there is a compensating

heavy rainfall.

Reproduction and management of western cedar have not been sufficiently

studied to warrant very positive conclusions. This neglect is probably

due to a wide belief that in spite of its present commercial importance,

its place in the future forest will be small. It most commonly occurs

with other trees in heavy stands, which make the preservation of any

young cedar difficult because of the destructiveness of logging. Being

of comparatively slow growth, also persistent in retaining branches

when grown in the light, it is not as promising for artificial

reproduction as Douglas fir or white pine. To let it become old

enough for good shingle material will be too expensive to pay,

for roofing is one of the wood products easiest to substitute for.

While cedar is adapted for poles, posts and other underground use,

less decay-resisting species can be made equally durable by chemical

treatment. In other words, as a second crop it is probably below

other species in ease of establishment, rapidity and quantity, and

will not have sufficient peculiar value to compensate for consequent

less economical use of the ground.

There may be exceptions to this rule. Good young cedar in forests

which are to be handled under the selection system should be carefully

protected. It can always be utilized and may bring revenue before

anything else can be cut. For the same reason it has been suggested

for planting with fir and white pine, either simultaneously as a

small proportion or later in blank spaces where the others fail.

Under such conditions the main stand will not be modified and the

cedar will afford a valuable adjunct.

SITKA SPRUCE (_Picea sitchensis_)

Although found in the moister mountain regions, this exceedingly

valuable tree seldom occurs to a commercially important extent

except along the coast, where it is common on swales and fertile

benches and in river bottoms often forms pure stands of great density.

Yields of 100,000 feet an acre are not unusual and the trees are

very large. It is also common, although of small size, in swamps.

This spruce reproduces readily in openings, whether made by fire

or cutting. Unthrifty specimens may be found under shade, but

considerable light is necessary for successful development. Even

then, height growth in youth averages slower than that of fir or

hemlock. The leader shoot is likely to die, so that hardly more

than 25 per cent of the young trees establish a regular form of

growth before a height of 20 or 30 feet is reached. After this

stage spruce grows uniformly and rapidly, still somewhat slower

than fir in height but exceeding it in diameter. The branches are

slow to die, however, so that the tree remains bushy for most of its

length until it reaches 60 or 80 feet in height, and even afterward

a dense stand is required to clear it. In many pure spruce forests

the larger trees have been able to withstand the pruning influences

and remain limby, while the smaller ones, being pushed in height

growth to reach sufficient light for survival, have cleared themselves

with remarkable rapidity.

The natural occurrence of Sitka spruce, except in Alaska, is probably

limited chiefly to situations where it escapes competition, in

youth at least, with the more hardy and rapid-growing species. It

has the greatest advantage over these on river bottoms and flats

where there is a dense growth of deciduous brush and where the

soil is very wet in spring. In considering it as a possible second

crop, the same competition must be remembered. Whether seeding is

natural or artificial, the extent to which it will hold its own

with any considerable quantity of other species is doubtful. If

such are present and the situation is adapted to them, any expensive

effort to get spruce merely by modifying methods of logging or

handling the slash is certainly likely to be disappointing. Under

the conditions mentioned as peculiarly favorable for spruce, gradual

natural restocking may be expected if some seed supply is preserved,

but since the growth is rather slow and a thin stand will remain

limby, it may pay to hasten returns by supplementary artificial

planting. Some authorities question the financial practicability

of this on the ground that since spruce is of slower growth it will

pay better to use the ground for fir, but the latter is unlikely

to be true of bottom land.

After summing all its advantages, the peculiar merits of spruce for

certain purposes should be weighed, for sufficiently higher stumpage

value will compensate for delay in harvesting the crop. Moreover,

Sitka spruce has not been as thoroughly studied by foresters as

the more prominent Western trees, and while the foregoing notes

represent general present opinion, further figures on rate of height

growth may be more encouraging. There is no doubt that diameter

increase is rapid from the start. Most of the disadvantages mentioned

also decrease toward the southern limit of the spruce range, the

growth on the Oregon Coast being rapid.

WESTERN YELLOW PINE (_Pinus ponderosa_)

In this species we have the important western conifer which most

often permits the selection system of management. With certain

exceptions in which the entire stand is mature, the object of

conservative logging should be to remove trees past the age of rapid

growth and foster those that remain for a later cut. When comprising

the entire stand, or at least clearly dominating it, with all ages

fairly evenly represented, successful in reproduction, and not so

dense as to present mechanical difficulties, it is ideally adapted

to this form of management. The important underlying principle is

that, since for a period of its life the normal individual tree

increases in wood production and then declines, it is bad economy

to cut it while it is still growing rapidly or to allow it, after

slowing down, to occupy ground which might be used by a tree still

in the vigor of production. For example, if at 100 years old it

contains 500 board feet, it has averaged an addition of 5 feet,

a year throughout its life. If at 125 years old it contains but

560 feet, the average increment will be but 4-1/2 feet a year.

It will not give equal return for the soil, moisture and light

it monopolizes during these 25 years. At the same time, probably

there are young trees nearby which hitherto have averaged below

the maximum, but if released from its competition will forge ahead

for a period at the end of which they will give a greater annual

return than if cut at present. It would be as bad economy to cut

these today as to spare the over-mature tree. In short, the production

of the forest is not only sustained, but actually increased, by

removing the oldest trees at just the proper time; and is decreased

by taking out young trees either not yet at the natural age of

greatest mean annual increment or capable of artificial stimulation

by thinning.

By studying the relation of age to production in the particular

locality, the proportion of different age classes, and also finding

the approximate average diameter which corresponds to the age at

which he desires to cut, the professional forester can make a very

accurate selection of the trees which can be removed to best advantage

at present and also fix the time and yield of the next cutting.

Fortunately, however, commercial and silvicultural considerations

accidentally coincide so nearly under average yellow pine conditions

as to make certain rough rules which can be laid down entirely

consistent with logging methods now in practice. Diameter is far

from exact indication of age, for the location of the forest and

the situation of the individual tree, especially as it affects the

relation between height and diameter growth, are potent factors,

but as a rule merchantability for saw-material is not far from

maturity.

In a great majority of cases the approximate minimum diameter for

cutting which would be fixed by it forester would be somewhere

between 16 and 30 inches, but say it were 18 inches, for example,

it would not arbitrarily apply throughout the stand. Most trees with

yellow, smooth bark and small heavy-limbed tops, perhaps partially

dead, are mature regardless of their size. If small, they have

been crowded or stunted and may as well be cut. Trees with large,

healthy crowns composed of many comparatively small branches, and

with rough dark bark showing no flat scaling, are sure to be growing

rapidly, even if quite large. They are also less desired by the

lumberman, who often calls them black pine or black jack, so may

often be spared, without much sacrifice, for seed trees or in order

to continue their rapid wood production.

The seed tree problem in such a pine forest and under such a system

as has been described is comparatively simple, for there are likely

to be enough young trees of fruiting age left to fill up the blanks

between existing seedlings. The density of the latter determines

to a large extent the number and location of seed trees necessary,

but there should always be two to four to the acre, even if this

requires leaving some that would otherwise be logged.

Under this system recurring cuts may be made at periods of perhaps

30 or 40 years, taking out each time the trees which have passed

the minimum diameter since the last previous cut. It is obvious,

however, that if the process is to continue indefinitely, protection

must be absolute. Destruction of young growth will stop the rotation

at the time the surviving older material is harvested. At each

cut the brush should be disposed of with this end in view. If the

stand is very thin it may not add much to the danger of fire and,

especially if reproduction is difficult and requires shelter, may

best be left spread on the ground at some distance from remaining

trees. Otherwise, and this is the rule, it should be piled and

usually burned. In this process and in logging every effort should

be made to protect existing young growth from injury. Ground fires

should be prevented now and always hereafter.

So far, however, we have been considering how to make the most

of a stand of many ages, due to constant reproduction permitted

by the light supply in a fairly open forest. On the other hand,

yellow pine sometimes produces a mature stand so heavy that there

is little young growth beneath it, or even a thin old stand with

either little reproduction or an invasion of lodge-pole pine. Such

conditions are usually due to fire at some period. In the first

of these cases, usually the dense stand has resulted from a fire

which destroyed its predecessor not so completely as to remove the

seed supply, but sufficiently to afford light for a more uniformly

dense crop of seedlings than would occur in the normal forest.

These have been thinned out as the stand grew old, but never to a

degree which allowed much reproduction beneath them. The natural

cycle will be begun again in time, for toward the end of the life of

this unusually heavy stand, seedlings will begin to appear gradually

as individual old trees die and admit more and more light. The

other exceptions described are due to more recent ground fires

which have destroyed only the less hardy young growth and perhaps

also encouraged the lodge pole which, within its range, is always

quick to take burned ground.

The same result is almost sure to follow the "Indian" method of

forest protection sometimes advocated, which consists of purposely

running ground fires frequently in order to prevent accumulation

of sufficient debris to make an accidental fire fatal to timber of

commercial size. While such immunity may be secured, and perhaps

without sacrifice in stands so heavy as to have no reproduction

or when the latter has already been destroyed, it is obviously at

the expense of young growth if any exists. The counter argument

that a small proportion escaping will be sufficient for the second

crop is fallacious, because good timber will not be produced from

these scattering seedlings subjected to strong light by later logging.

Other means are necessary if the forest is to be reproduced.

This brings us to the possible management of yellow pine as an

even-aged forest. Thoughtful foresters are beginning to suspect

that while the "Indian" system of fire protection will usually

be fatal if ordinary logging practice is followed, it may serve

as an adjunct to a system which, if carefully applied, will be

better than selection cutting for some of our pine areas. This plan

is suggested where there is little young growth worth protecting

and consists of depending upon seed trees almost entirely for

reproduction, protecting carefully until the resultant even-aged

second growth is large enough to stand Blight fire, and then burning

periodically at such a season and with such safeguards as will

prevent the fire from being injuriously severe.

Not only are there many existing forests where absence of small trees

will permit clean cutting without sacrifice, but the same condition

is likely to occur eventually in stands following selective logging

if the second cut is long delayed. Although a good representation

of all ages under the diameter limit remains, the density of this

may become too great to allow further reproduction, and in time

the dominant trees will shade out all smaller growth. To allow this

purposely, choosing heavy cuts at intervals long enough to mature

the crop from seed rather than frequent light cuts of a constantly

replenishing stand, thus reducing the necessity of fire prevention,

is the aim of those who favor clean cutting as the most practicable

system. They assume that additional investment in seed trees, or

planting to insure prompt starting of a new crop after cutting,

will be unnecessary or at least offset by the smaller fire charge

and greater economy of logging.

Theoretically, such practice with a species adapted to the selective

method is uneconomical, for the ground is not fully utilized. Accidental

open places in the stand are not occupied by young trees which would

otherwise fill them. Time is lost by not starting the second crop

until after logging, for were there no fire previously there would

be considerable seedling growth which, although perhaps dormant

because of shade, would begin to amount to something much quicker than

that supplied by seed trees afterward. Nor is the system feasible

where there is much fir or other species less fire-resisting than

pine. It is dangerous in practice except where there is very little

combustible matter on the ground and fire is generally easy of

control, and exceedingly dangerous to advocate because serves as a

pretext and example for indiscriminate carelessness with fire under

all conditions. Finally, the alleged immunity of pine from injury by

ground fires is exaggerated. As a matter of fact, while the whole

stand is seldom perceptibly hurt, the immediate or gradual death of

a good tree here and there thins the stand very considerably in a

few years and it is such a thinning process in the past which makes

many pine tracts bear but 5,000 feet to the acre where otherwise

they would yield two or three times as much. Scorching also retards

the growth of trees not actually injured otherwise.

The technical objections given above may sometimes be offset by

practical advantages and the system is likely to receive expert

approval for certain conditions provided it is not used as a cloak

without taking sincere steps to replace the destroyed second growth

by adequate seed trees or artificial seeding. The latter danger may

easily warrant public alarm manifested by restrictive laws. Universal

ground burning of green timber will distinctly reduce the prospect

of unassisted natural reforestation on the great area of potential

timber land in which, as a resource, regardless of ownership, the

public is vitally interested. Under present conditions at least,

a large proportion of this is likely to be logged without any view

to a future crop. It is questionable whether any state should, or

will, legally approve ground burning except under stipulation of

proper management thereafter.

Unfortunately, it is necessary, in concluding this discussion of

yellow pine, to admit that while an attempt has been made to outline

the methods which will insure a second crop, the promise of satisfactory

financial return is more doubtful than that offered by some other

species. Compared with the typical coast trees, such as Douglas

fir, spruce and hemlock, the growth is slow and the yield small.

The chief circumstances in its favor are low land values, lesser

fire risk, cheapness and certainty of reproduction and excellent

market prospects. Less investment compensates somewhat for longer

rotation and smaller yield. Low taxation, however, is an absolute

essential.

WESTERN WHITE PINE (_P. Monlicola_)

Although as a distinct forest type this valuable tree is limited

chiefly to Idaho, it occurs occasionally in mixture or small tracts

over a wide range, and no reason appears why its commercial importance

should not be extended by planting on cut-over lands. Its high value,

rapid growth and heavy yield make it a particularly promising species

for growing under forestry principles. Its chief requirements for

success are fairly good moist land, access by the seed to mineral

soil and ample light for the young seedlings.

Except that it is more fastidious as to soil, white pine usually

demands about the same treatment as that prescribed for Douglas

fir, including clean cutting, slash burning and establishing a

new even-aged stand by seed trees or artificial restocking. Under

favorable conditions the stand is nearly even-aged, with little

undergrowth except of undesirable species. What small pine may

exist is seldom thrifty enough to be worth saving, so the best

thing is to clean off the ground for the double purpose of removing

weed trees and favoring valuable reproduction. Like that of fir,

the natural rotation of white pine forests seems to have been

accomplished often by the aid of fire, and where not given this aid

it suffers from lack of suitable seed-bed and from the competition

of other species already established.

Individual seed trees left in logging are not successful because

of shallow root system and almost certain windfall. Replacement

must be by seeding or planting, or by leaving small tracts of pine

surrounded by cleared fire lines to protect them when the slashing

is burned. The size and distance apart of these must be determined

by their situation and exposure to wind, considering both the danger

of windfall and the carrying of seed. Especially in younger growths,

the quantity of merchantable material tied up in this way is not

so great as is sometimes necessary in the case of red fir, where

single seed trees may contain several thousand board feet. On the

other hand, stumpage value may be high. For this reason artificial

replacement may often be more profitable, especially where there

is reasonable safety against recurring fire.

A thing to be borne in mind is that white pine seems to reach a

healthier and better development when mixed with a small proportion

of other species, such as cedar, tamarack, spruce, lodgepole pine

and Douglas fir, so there is no object in trying to produce an

absolutely pure stand. Some authorities think that 60 per cent

of pine, with the rest helping to prune it, is an ideal mixture.

LODGEPOLE PINE (_P. Murrayana_)

Present interest in private reproduction of this species hardly

warrants treating it at length in this publication, although

unquestionably it will eventually occupy a higher place in the

market than at present and its readiness to seize burned land in

many regions will make it a factor whether desired or not. Where

yellow pine will grow, the problem is most likely to be to discourage

lodgepole competition.

In strictly lodgepole territory, however, it may be the only promise

of a new forest. Generally speaking, an even-aged growth should

be induced by clean cutting if the entire crop can be utilized.

Slash burning in such cases is desirable. The chief difficulty

is in providing seed supply, for either individual seed trees or

small groups are almost certain to be blown down. Experiments so

far indicate that heavy strips must be spared, chosen to afford

the least present loss and safeguarded by fire lines.

In some lodgepole stands, especially where only certain sizes are

marketable, the cutting practically amounts to thinning. Here obviously

the effort should be to prevent over-thinning and to remove debris

with the least damage to the remaining stand. Piling and burning

is essential.

SUGAR PINE (_P. Lambertiana_)

This extremely valuable pine, commercially limited to the Oregon and

California mountains, is fastidious in its choice of conditions. Not

a frequent or prolific seed bearer, it still insists on a moist loose

seed-bed and prefers the natural forest floor to burned-over land. It

cannot stand drought when young and except on cool northern slopes

seedlings may be killed or stunted by exposure to full sunlight. On

the contrary it demands more and more light as it grows older and

will be suppressed or killed if unable to secure it. Under natural

conditions it perpetuates itself best by filling open places in

the forest.

For the above reasons, sugar pine is naturally a component of mixed

forests and it is doubtful whether it will be successfully grown as

a pure stand. Unfortunately, also, logging methods which are both

the simplest and most favorable to the reproduction of its associates

may be discouraging to sugar pine reproduction. Nevertheless, its

value warrants strong efforts to favor it and is an argument, where

considerable young sugar pine exists, against either clean cutting

or the use of fire.

The Forest Service, for which authority much of the above discussion

of this species was taken, offers the following general outline

for management in California:

"Since the forests in which sugar and yellow pine occur vary greatly

in composition, the method of treatment must also vary. For this

the forest types already distinguished may form a basis.

"On the lower portion of the sugar pine-yellow pine type, where

sugar pine forms but a small proportion of the stand, only the yellow

pine should be considered for the future forest. All merchantable

sugar pine may therefore be removed. It will be necessary to leave

only a few seed trees of yellow pine to restock the ground, although

usually it will be a wiser policy to leave a fair stand, since

this can be removed as a second cutting when reproduction is

established. This procedure would also hold for areas on which yellow

pine occurs in nearly pure stands. In these localities dense stands

of second-growth yellow pine occur. It will often be profitable,

where there is a market at hand, to thin these stands when they

are about 30 years old, removing the suppressed trees for mine

props. Trees 6, 8 and 10 inches and up are used for this purpose,

and sell for from 5 to 6 cents a running foot.

"On the upper portion of the sugar pine-yellow pine type, where

both species have about an equal representation in the stand, seed

trees of each should be left, wherever practicable, in the proportion

of two sugar pines to one yellow pine."

In the fir belt, where sugar pine and fir are the principal species,

the fir should be cut clean wherever possible and sugar pine should

be relied upon for the future forest.

"On all lands, the Douglas spruce, white fir and incense cedar

should be cut whenever possible, and chutes, skidways and bridges

should be constructed from the two last named species."

The following specific instructions are issued for marking timber

on National Forest sales in the sugar pine-yellow pine type:

"Owing to the large size of the trees, marking in this type of

forest should be done with special care, since a slight mistake

involves a comparatively large amount of timber.

"On nearly all of the lands included in this type the ground is

now but partly and insufficiently stocked with young timber, the

areas of forest are constantly becoming more accessible to markets,

and there is every indication of a strong future demand at greatly

increased prices. On nearly every tract, a second cut can be made

within thirty years. All marking under present sales should be

done strictly with reference to two points:

"1. Stocking the cut-over land as fully as possible with sugar and

yellow pine.

"2. Securing a second cut within thirty years.

"All cutting should be done under the 'selection system,' which

requires a careful choice of the individual trees to be removed.

Fixed diameter limits and the leaving of any specified number of

seed trees per acre can be very largely disregarded.

"The condition of every sugar and yellow pine on the sale area

should be studied closely to determine whether that tree will be

merchantable thirty years hence, by which time a second cut is

probable. As a rule the trees which will remain merchantable for

another thirty years should be left. Suppressed and crowded trees

which cannot develop should be removed. Under this system of marking,

ordinarily about one-half of the present stand of merchantable

pine would be left uncut. Will it pay?

"On areas where practically all of the pine is over-matured and

would be cut under the rule given above, a sufficient stand must be

left to reseed thoroughly the cut-over land. This requires not less

than four full seed-bearing trees, at least 25 inches in diameter,

per acre. The strongest and thriftiest trees available should be

selected for this purpose, but not less than the number specified

must be left even if every tree will be a total loss before a second

cut is possible.

"Extensive areas of pine timber which are not yet fully mature

should be excluded from the sale. On patches or small areas of

immature pine, which it is not practicable to exclude from the

sale, cutting should be very light, limited to one-third or less

of the largest trees, or omitted altogether.

"No attempt to discriminate sharply between sugar and yellow pine

should be made, as both trees are almost equally desirable. Where a

choice is necessary, sugar pine should be favored on moist situations,

as in canyons, moist pockets, or benches and on northerly exposures.

Yellow pine should be favored on dry situations, including exposed

ridges and southern exposures.

"Fir and incense cedar should be marked, as a rule, to as low a

diameter as these trees are merchantable in order to reduce the

proportion of these species in coming reproduction. It is essential,

however, that no large openings be made in the present stand since

the exposed ground is in danger of reverting to chaparral or of

becoming so dry from evaporation that no reproduction will follow

cutting. Where the stand of pine is insufficient to reseed thoroughly

and protect the cut-over area, enough sound, thrifty fir and cedar

should be left to form a fairly even cover with openings less than

a quarter of an acre in size.'"

The under current of all opinion upon sugar pine up to date is

that reproduction will not be very successful unless enough growth

to shelter the seedlings remains after logging. Where the fire

risk permits, the same end may be furthered by leaving the tops

scattered on the ground.

Little experimenting has been done in planting sugar pine, but

there are many indications that except where conditions strongly

favor natural reproduction it will be resorted to eventually if

any particular attempt is made to get this species. Leaving large

seed trees is not only expensive, but rather uncertain, because

heavy seed years are several years apart and squirrels consume a

large portion of an ordinary crop. Transplants which have received

nursery shelter until past the greatest danger of drying out should

prove most successful on heavily-cut south slopes.

REDWOOD (_Sequoia sempervirens_)

Although probably the most rapid-growing of all American commercial

trees and also of high market standing, redwood has been little

studied by foresters. The layman is still more confused by its many

peculiarities. Growing to a size of 20 feet in diameter and 350 feet

high, reaching an age of well over 1,000 years and seldom reproducing

by means of seed, it is not surprising that it was long regarded

as ill-adapted to second crop management. Although observing that

suckers sprout from the stumps with great rapidity, the lumberman

generally regarded these mushroom growths as abnormal and temporary,

and believed his virgin timber to be the finally-vanishing remnant

of a prehistoric species unsuited to present-day conditions.

It was next discovered that the suckering habit is no new one,

indeed that the majority of the present stand, however old, began

as sprouts from roots or stumps of its predecessors. This is evident

from the circular arrangement of several trees around the spot where

their parent stood. These old sprouts were of very slow growth,

for they were shaded by a forest of extreme density. As seedlings

they could have neither germinated nor grown, but as suckers they

were kept alive by the parent until light supply became available

through their increasing height or through thinning of the forest.

Under such conditions centuries were required to produce large

trees.

The owner of today, by cutting down the old stand, gives the suckers

conditions hitherto unknown to the redwood. The vigor and susceptibility

to the aid of light, which originally was necessary in the sprout

growth to perpetuate the species at all, now respond to entire

freedom and light in an astonishing manner. Even after severe slashing

fires char the stumps, the latter throw out clusters of sprouts

which grow several feet a year. Logging works 30 or 40 years old

have come up to trees nearly 100 feet high. Naturally such timber

has a heavy percentage of sapwood and is soft and brittle, but

it is already suitable for piling, box lumber and like purposes

and improves constantly.

Since reproduction by seed does not enter into the problem, financial

possibilities depend almost wholly on the nature of the original

stand. There are many types of redwood forest, pure and mixed,

flat and slope. If the old trees are few to the acre, the sprout

clusters will be so far apart that excess of side light will produce

clumps of swell-butted, short limby trees, of little use for lumber;

that is, unless there is also a seedling growth of fir or other

species to fill the blanks and bring up the density. Where such a

nurse growth is to be counted on, or where the redwood trees are

small and close together, ideal conditions for a certain, rapid

and well formed second crop exist.

The thinner the original redwood stand, the greater the effort

necessary at the time of logging to obtain the required density. The

leaving of seed trees of other species, with as many as possible small

trees of both redwood and other species and the maximum protection

of all from fire, should then be the means employed. On some tracts

the proportion of redwood will not warrant this effort; on some

it is not even required. The question of whether it pays to hold

redwood land is therefore almost wholly local, but when conditions

are favorable it can be answered affirmatively, because of the

extremely rapid growth, with less doubt than of almost any other

species.

There is some tendency to over-production of sprouts by redwood

stumps. Removal of the excess with an ax, saving those closest

to the ground and not over-thinning to the extent of reducing the

density conducive to height growth and shedding of low branches,

improves the chances of those remaining.

SEEDING AND PLANTING

SEED SUPPLY

It has been shown in a previous chapter that the owner of deforested

land who desires to secure a second crop may find it necessary or

cheaper to adopt artificial measures wholly or in part instead

of depending upon natural reproduction. These measures may be of

two kinds--direct seeding, in which the seed is sown where the

trees are to stand permanently, and the planting of trees grown

in nurseries.

Whether artificial reforestation is accomplished by means of sowing

seed or planting trees, the first requisite is a supply of tree seed

of the desired species and of good quality. Unfortunately for the

timber owner who wishes to enter upon extensive seeding operations,

the business of collecting and preparing forest tree seed for market

has received but little attention from old-established seed firms,

and it is not always possible to purchase the species and quantity

desired. Moreover, the prices charged are often excessive.

In the Pacific Northwest, however, the demand for seed of Douglas

fir and Sitka spruce has led to the establishment of a considerable

trade in these species, and at reasonable prices, so that where

these species are to be used, or only small quantities of other

species, the timber owner will probably find it to his advantage

to purchase the seed rather than to attempt collecting it himself.

Douglas fir seed is quoted at $1.40 to $2.00 per pound and Sitka

spruce seed at $2.25 to $3.00.

In purchasing seed it is common practice to specify that it shall

be of the new crop, because tree seed kept in ordinary storage

loses its vitality materially. When properly stored in air-tight

receptacles, however, as is now done by some seed dealers, it will

retain its germinative power for several years with only slight

depreciation. Moreover, fresh seed, if improperly treated, may

be of very poor quality, so that the age of the seed is of little

value in the determination of its worth and the only sure method

of ascertaining this is by means of germination or cutting tests.

The latter method is the quickest and most simple and consists

of cutting open a number of the seeds and ascertaining the per

cent whose kernel is sound, plump and moist. Seed of good average

quality should contain not more than 25-30 per cent of infertile

seed.

When seed cannot be purchased, it is necessary to collect. Since

no species of coniferous trees bear abundant crops of seed each

year and often several seasons will elapse between good crops, it

is necessary to gather sufficient seed when the supply is abundant

to provide for succeeding years when the crop is apt to be a failure.

The seed ripens in the fall, usually during August or September,

and the cones should be collected at that time. Pines require two

years in which to mature the seed; that is, the cones are not fully

formed and the seed ripe until the second fall after the fertilization

of the flowers in the spring. Most of the other important conifers

ripen their seed in the fall of the same season. Shortly after

the seed is ripe, the cones open and allow it to disseminate,

consequently they must be gathered before this occurs.

The cones are gathered either by climbing the trees and cutting

them off from the branches, by picking from the tops of felled

trees, or by robbing squirrels' hoards. Where squirrels are abundant

in the forest, the last method is the cheapest. Climbing trees

is practiced only where the trees are small. When this method is

employed, the workmen should be equipped with linemen's belts and

climbers. Picking from felled trees is readily carried on except

where dense underbrush interferes, as is the case in the ordinary

Douglas fir forest.

Trees growing in the open, with large crowns extending down the

greater part of the bole, bear cones more abundantly than trees

in dense forests, and for this reason collecting from scattered

open growths can be done more cheaply than on logging areas. Often

large quantities of cones can be purchased from settlers who will

collect and deliver them at central points at a stipulated price.

When this method is employed, however, frequent examination of

the cones should be made to ascertain that they contain the full

number of seed, for often opened cones from which a part or all

of the seed has been disseminated will be offered for sale. Insect

larvæ also often destroy a large proportion of the seed, particularly

when the crop is light and care should be taken that the cones

purchased are not infested. The prices paid for cones vary from

25 cents to 50 cents per sack for the larger cones, like yellow

and white pine, and 50 cents to $1.00 for Douglas fir and spruce,

depending upon the abundance of the crop.

After the cones are gathered the seed must be extracted and cleaned.

Where climatic conditions in the fall of the year will permit

air-drying, the cones may be spread out on sheets or blankets where

they will be exposed to the sun and wind. Under this treatment

they will open in from 3 to 6 days, depending upon the weather

and the species. Where bad weather will interfere with air-drying,

the cones must be dried undercover by artificial heat. This is the

method usually employed by professional seed collectors, and where

large quantities of cones are to be treated each year special dry

houses are constructed and fitted with elaborate drying apparatus.

The work can be done most cheaply with such an establishment, but

for the ordinary timber owner who expects to collect seed only

occasionally, a makeshift dry-house which will answer the purpose

can be fitted up inexpensively in any unused building. The essential

features are shelves or trays 4 feet wide arranged around the walls

of the room, one above the other and separated about 8 inches apart,

and a heating stove placed in the center of the room. The shelves

may be made of burlap stretched tight, or, better still, of wire

screening of 1-1/2 inch or 3/4-inch mesh.

After being subjected to a temperature not exceeding 110° Fahr.

for from 24 to 48 hours, the cones will open, allowing the seed to

fall out when shaken or pounded. The seed when separated from the

cones is then mixed with a coarse gravel in about the proportion

of 4 to 1 and churned to remove the wings. Finally, all foreign

matter is removed by screening and hollow seed blown out by passing

it through an ordinary fanning mill.

SEEDING VERSUS PLANTING

The selection of the method of reforestation to employ, whether

direct seeding or planting, depends primarily upon the character

of the area to be restocked. Direct seeding is usually considerably

cheaper when the results are satisfactory, but only on the more

favorable sites where moisture and soil conditions are right is

there any assurance of success. Even in such cases partial or total

destruction of the seed often results from birds and rodents. In

exposed situations where the soil is shallow, or where because of

climatic conditions soil dries out several inches deep during the

growing season, the seed may not germinate at all, or the young

seedlings may be killed before they have time to send their roots

down to the permanent moisture level. In such situations, planting

is the only reliable method. If the plant material is of the proper

kind and the work well done, satisfactory results are almost certain

to follow. Direct seeding is a much more rapid method than planting,

and where extensive areas are to be restocked within a short period

and seed is abundant, the work can be completed quickly. On the other

hand, this method is wasteful of seed because a large proportion

fails to germinate and the young seedlings often succumb to adverse

conditions, so that where seed is scarce or its cost high, planting

is the more practical method.

Because planting is the most reliable method it has been the one

most largely employed in extensive operations, both here and in

most European counties, but thorough tests are now being made of

direct seeding and under proper conditions it promises to be fairly

satisfactory. The Douglas fir region west of the Cascade Mountains

offers the most favorable conditions for direct seeding and except

on badly exposed south slopes, or where the growth of brush is

exceedingly dense, it is believed this method will prove a satisfactory

one for the timber owner to employ.

In the yellow pine regions conditions are not so satisfactory for

direct seeding, since this tree occurs largely in a region of deficient

rainfall. However, natural reproduction is abundant throughout

many portions of this type, and it is probable that direct seeding

will prove fairly successful if the proper methods are employed

and if forest conditions have not been too greatly disturbed. That

some method of successfully employing direct seeding with yellow

pine be found is greatly to be desired, since yellow pine seedlings

do not withstand transplanting well, but there is need for careful

experimentation before extensive seeding operations in this type

by private timber owners would be justifiable.

Western white pine, it is believed, will be easy to reproduce in

most of its native situations by direct seeding, though the greater

scarcity of its seed and the fact that it will be more subject to

destruction by birds and rodents because of its larger size may

make planting the more practical method.

Trees for planting can either be purchased from commercial nurserymen

or grown in nurseries established for that purpose near the planting

site. When only a few thousand trees are needed it is cheaper to

purchase them, but when extensive operations are contemplated,

covering hundreds of acres in which millions of trees will be needed,

it is far preferable for the owner to grow the trees in his own

nursery. Some initial outlay for the establishment of the nursery

will be necessary and a practical nurseryman should be employed,

but the saving in the cost of the trees will fully compensate for

these.

One, two and three year old trees, the latter once transplanted,

are usually employed in planting, the older trees being used for

the less favorable sites. In planting they are placed in rows

equidistant apart, the spacing varying from 4 to 12 feet, with a

general average of about 6 feet. The work may be done either in

the fall after growth has ceased or in the spring before growth

commences.

The cost of planting, of course, will vary greatly with the age of

the trees, the number planted per acre and the accessibility and

character of the planting site. With young trees and wide spacing,

the cost may be as low as $6.00 per acre, while in more unfavorable

situations where older plants are used and planting is more laborious

it may be as high as $16.00. A fair average, however, for those

areas which a timber owner would be most likely to plant up is

about $8.00 to $10.00 per acre.

In direct seeding, several different methods may be employed, such

as broadcasting over the entire area with or without previous

preparation of the soil, sowing in strips, or sowing in seed spots;

but observation and experiment have shown that it is necessary for

seed such as Douglas fir, yellow pine and western white pine to

come in close contact with the mineral soil in order that it may

germinate and the seedlings live; consequently only those methods

should be used which will accomplish this. Where the area has been

burned over previous to sowing and the mineral soil laid bare,

broadcast seeding may be employed. Where the ground will permit

the use of a harrow good results are obtainable by scarifying the

soil in strips about 10 feet apart and sowing the seed in these

strips. On unburned areas covered with a dense growth of fern,

salal, moss, grass, or other plants, this covering must be removed

by the seed spot method. This consists in removing the ground cover

with a grub hoe or mattock in spots of varying diameter (6 inches to

3 feet) and of various distances apart (6 to 15 feet), and sowing

the seed in these spots. The advantages of this method are that

a minimum amount of seed is used; the ground can be prepared and

the seed covered to whatever extent is desirable, and the soil

pressed down. This method is believed to be the one best suited

to the greatest variety of sites.

The amount of seed used per acre will, of course, vary with the

species and the method used, and the quality of the seed. The following

table indicates the approximate quantity of seed of good average

quality required per acre for three different methods, the average

cost when collected in fairly large quantities, and the number

of seed per pound:

No. pounds required per acre.

No. seed Cost per Broadcast, Seedspots

Species. per lb. pound. entire area. Strips. 6' apart.

Douglas fir 42,000 $1.50 2 - 3 1/2 - 1 1/2 - 3/4

Yellow pine 8,000 .50 10 - 12 2 - 2-1/2 1-1/2 - 2

Western white pine 14,000 .75 6 - 8 1-1/2 - 1-3/4 1 - 1-1/2

The total cost, too, will vary widely, not only because of the

different quantities of seed used but also because of the great extent

to which the methods are varied to suit the conditions occurring upon

the area. Simple broadcasting without any preparation or treatment

of the soil will not exceed 20 cents to 25 cents per acre for labor;

harrowing and sowing in strips, 85 cents to $1.10 per acre, and

sowing in seedspots, $2.00 to $5.00 per acre. Upon this basis the

total cost per acre will approximate the figures given in the table

below:

Broadcast over Seedspots,

Species. entire area. Strips. 6' apart.

Douglas fir $3.20-4.75 $1.00-2.60 $2.75-6.00

Yellow pine 5.20-6.25 1.85-2.35 2.75-6.00

Western white pine 4.70-6.25 2.00-2.40 2.75-6.00

RATE OF GROWTH AND PROBABLE RETURNS

Of all factors in calculating the financial possibilities of second

forest crops, the growth to be expected is the easiest to determine

with fair accuracy. Future stumpage value, tax burden and fire

risk are all subject to uncertain influences, but the approximate

yield of a given species under given natural conditions will be

the same in the future that it is now. To predict it requires only

study of existing stands without being misled by the influence

of conditions which will not be repeated.

On the other hand, an immense amount of misinformation is circulated

because of superficial observation. Enthusiasts discovering individual

trees which have made prodigious growth, or even fairly extensive

stands on fertile soil with heavy rainfall, will compute sawlog

yields at 40 or 50 years which are much too optimistic for general

application. Others, remembering some stand they have seen in

unfavorable localities, or noting shade-suppressed trees which

will not be paralleled after the virgin forest is removed, are

unduly discouraged. It is most essential that yield tables be made

by trained observers who know how to reach the true average, and

that the figures either actually come from the region to which they

are to be applied or are accompanied by a systematic analysis of

climatic and other conditions which permits intelligent comparison.

In calculating another yield on cut-over land, the system for an

even-aged new growth, such as will follow clean cutting of Douglas

fir, for example, is quite different from that necessary if the

cutting amounts only to selection of the merchantable trees and

leaves a fair stand of smaller ones. In the latter case, yield

tables based on average acreage production are of little use because

so much depends upon the character of the stand which remains on

the tract in question. Here the basis must be the rate of growth

of the average individual tree. An estimate by the number in each

present diameter class may be made of the trees which will escape

logging, showing, let us say for example, about five trees of each

diameter from 6 to 12 inches, or thirty-five in all which are over

6 inches. If the growth study indicates that in 20 years there will

have been added 6 inches in diameter we can estimate a crop of

five trees each of classes extending from 12 to 18 inches. Actually

the process will not be so simple, for the different aged trees

will not grow with equal rapidity, and several other factors must

be reckoned with, but the general principle is to apply rate of

growth knowledge to the material on hand, and study of this material

is essential.

For predicting even-aged crops resulting from entire restocking,

the acquisition of necessary basic information is as difficult, or

more so, but its application is far simpler. That the ground will

be fully stocked by natural or artificial means must be assumed,

but we can also assume that the result will be influenced only by

normal locality conditions and not by accidental condition of the

present forest. Therefore we use a yield table and not a growth

table. This can be made by actual measurement of existing second

growth stands of different ages, which proves not only the growth

rate but also the number of trees which the natural shade-thinning

process results in at different periods of the forest life. The

chief danger of inaccuracy in such information lies in basing it on

insufficient measurements or in applying it where soil or moisture

conditions are greatly different. The latter error can be guarded

against, however, by use of growth figures taken in conjunction

with it. For example, if a yield table showing 25,000 feet to the

acre at 50 years from seed is accompanied by one showing that the

average stand it represents is 125 high at 50 years and its average

50-year-tree is 14 inches in diameter, little investigation is

necessary to determine whether in any given locality the growth

falls far above or below that.

An attempt to reproduce here any considerable number of growth

and yield tables would be of doubtful use without more space than

is allowed to explain how they are made and used. There are many

technicalities, both mathematical and silvicultural, and unfortunately

most of the available figures for the Northwest, obtained by the

Forest Service, have not been generalized enough for wide popular

value. This is particularly true of yield tables which necessarily

require assuming standards of merchantability. While the best western

white pine table assumes that by the time a new crop is cut 7-inch

white pine will be salable, the best fir table was worked upon

a 12-inch diameter basis. Obviously this would show an unfairly

greater yield of a pine forest containing trees between 7 and 12

inches and be very misleading in calculating financial results at

the same age and stumpage rates; yet without the original data

there is no way of reducing both tables to the same basis. As an

example, however, to indicate how the financial possibilities of

second growth can be arrived at if a systematic study is made,

let us take the Douglas fir figures referred to.

DOUGLAS FIR

These are exceedingly reliable. Measurements were taken by the Forest

Service of practically pure fir on about 400 areas in thirty-five

different age stands from 10 to 140 years old, ranging along the

western Cascade foothills from the Canadian line to central Oregon.

Since reforestation investment is likely to be confined mainly to

the more promising opportunities, only such growth was measured

as gave an average representation of the better class of the two

should all the general territory covered be graded in two quality

classes of all around ability to produce forests. On the other

hand, care was taken not to represent the maximum of the better

class, data being taken only from permanent forest land and not

from rich potential agricultural land which might show unfairly

rapid forest growth. The average areas were actually measured and

the number, age, form, diameter growth, height growth, board foot

contents, etc., of all the trees on them were accurately determined.

Trees 12 inches in diameter 4-1/2 feet from the ground were considered

merchantable, and it was assumed they could be used to 8 inches in

the top. From this data were prepared tables and diagrams showing

the average development of trees and stands under fairly favorable

conditions in the region west of the Cascades.

This gave the following yield per acre:

Age of Stand. Feet, B. M. Age of Stand. Feet, B. M.

40 12,400 90 70,200

50 28,000 100 79,800

60 41,000 110 90,300

70 51,700 120 101,500

80 61,100 130 113,000

Let us see how these figures can be used in answering the primary

question of the prospective timber-grower: "Will it pay to hold

my cut-over land for a second crop?"

Obviously no certain answer can be printed here, not only because

no uniform stumpage prices or carrying charges can be predicted but

also because individuals may differ as to what profit is necessary

to make the investment "pay," so it will be necessary to analyze

the situation so each may select the premises which suit his own

case and judgment. The investment made by the holder of cut-over

land is of two kinds; that represented by the land which otherwise

he might sell, putting the proceeds at work in some other business,

and the annual carrying charges which otherwise he might also invest

differently. The sum obtainable by investing the money available

by sale after logging, adding to it yearly the sum required for

fire prevention and taxes, and compounding both at a satisfactory

interest for the entire period, is practically the cost of holding

the tract for any given number of years. By calculating this cost

upon a basis of one acre, and dividing it by the yield board measure

which the same period will produce, the cost per thousand feet of

growing a second crop is arrived at.

Against this may be set the gross return from the same expected

yield at any given stumpage rate. The yield at the end of a 50-year

investment will not be that of a 50-year forest, however, for although

the carrying cost begins at once, the new forest requires a few

years to become established. No exact figure can be set for this,

for some seed will sprout the first year and some blank spaces may

persist several years, but in the tables to follow five years has

been allowed for an average. Consequently, instead of calculating

on a 28 M yield as the return at the end of 50 years, as indicated

in the yield table on the preceding page, the 45-year yield of

20-1/2 M is used, and similarly for the other periods of 60, 70

and 80 years. These four rotations only will be considered here,

for in less than 50 years second growth will probably be too small

to be cut at the highest profit, while after 80 years the investment

compounds so heavily as to make it improbable that increasing stumpage

values will compensate.

Three interest rates have been used in the first table to follow:

4, 5 and 6 per cent, compound. Forest calculations at lower rates

are often seen, but it is not believed that less than 5 per cent

will be satisfactory to private owners and many will insist on 6

per cent. The fair standard is what the owner can make in other

business today, and since he can reinvest his income in the same

business, it is reasonable to figure at a compound rate. A few

examples are given to show how similar calculations may be made

with any set of investment and stumpage factors which appeal to

individual judgment. The second table, prepared from the first,

shows at a glance the price that must be received for Douglas fir

to make it pay either 5 or 6 per cent compound interest under a

range of sixty different conditions of original investment and

annual cost.

It should be borne in mind that, although present land value is

made a charge, the value of the land at the time of harvest is

not considered. This value is certain to increase greatly in the

long periods involved. Taxation charges will be against it as well

as against the timber. Indeed much land is now held without any

regard to possible second growth. It should be assumed therefore

that any profit in forest investment shown will be _increased_ by

the sum obtainable for the land at the end of the same period.

Cost per M of growing Cost per M of growing

Douglas fir resulting Douglas fir resulting

from every $1 per acre from every 1 cent per acre

originally invested. of annual carrying charge.

--------At the end of--------- --------At the end of---------

50 60 70 80 50 60 70 80

Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years.

At 4% $ .35 $ .30 $ .33 $ .41 $ .074 $ .068 $ .078 $ .098

At 5% .56 .53 .65 .88 .102 .101 .126 .172

At 6% .90 .94 1.27 1.87 .142 .152 .208 .309

Example 1: With land worth $2.50 an acre at present, and an estimated

carrying charge of 3 cents a year for protection and 20 cents per

taxes, what stumpage price for a 50-year crop will pay 5 per cent

compound interest? 6 per cent?

5% 6%

2-1/2 X .56 = $1.40 2-1/2 X .90 = $2.25

23 X .102 = 2.35 23 X .142 = 3.27

----- -----

$3.75 $5.52

Example 2: With land worth $5 an acre at present, and stumpage

estimated to reach $7.00 in 60 years, what is the maximum annual

carrying charge per acre which can be paid during this period and

permit a 5 per cent return? A 6 per cent return?

5% 6%

Gross return = $7.00 Gross return = $7.00

5 X .53 = 2.65 5 X .94 = 4.70

----- -----

$4.35/.101 = 43c $2.30/.152 = 15c

Example 3: Assuming that stumpage will be worth $6.00 in 50 years,

and that public enlightenment will keep the annual fire and tax

charge from exceeding 20 cents, what price obtainable for cut-over

land today, made to earn 5 per cent compound interest in some other

business, is as profitable as keeping the land for a second crop?

If other business would earn 6 per cent?

5% 6%

Gross return = $6.00 Gross return = $6.00

20 X .102 = 2.04 20 X .142 = 2.84

----- -----

$3.06/.56 = $7.07 $3.16/.90 = $3.51

FUTURE STUMPAGE PRICES NECESSARY TO MAKE DOUGLAS FIR SECOND CROP

PAY EITHER 5 OR 6% COMPOUND INTEREST ON INVESTMENT.

Maximum Original Investment $7.50 an Acre. Maximum Annual Carrying

Charge 30c an Acre.

------------Cost per M Feet-----------

Taxes and 50 year 60 year 70 year 80 year

Original protection rotation rotation rotation rotation

investment paid yearly (20.5 M (35 M. (46.6 M (56.5 M

per acre. per acre. per A.) per A.) per A.) per A.)

(cents)

- - 10 $2.40 $2.35 $2.90 $3.90

| | 15 2.95 2.85 3.50 4.80

| $2.50 < 20 3.45 3.35 4.15 5.65

| | 25 3.95 3.85 4.75 6.50

| - 30 4.45 4.35 5.40 7.35

|

| - 10 3.80 3.65 4.50 6.10

5% | | 15 4.35 4.20 5.15 6.95

Compound < 5.00 < 20 4.85 4.70 5.75 7.80

Interest | | 25 5.35 5.20 6.40 8.70

| - 30 5.85 5.70 7.05 9.55

|

| - 10 5.20 5.00 6.15 8.30

| | 15 5.75 5.50 6.75 9.20

| 7.50 < 20 6.25 6.00 7.40 10.05

| | 25 6.75 6.50 8.00 10.00

- - 30 7.25 7.00 8.65 11.75

- - 10 3.65 3.85 5.25 7.75

| | 15 4.40 4.65 6.30 9.30

| 2.50 < 20 5.10 5.40 7.35 10.85

| | 25 5.80 6.15 8.35 12.35

| - 30 6.50 6.90 9.40 13.90

|

| - 10 5.90 6.20 8.45 12.45

6% | | 15 6.65 7.80 9.45 14.00

Compound < 5.00 < 20 7.35 7.75 10.50 15.50

Interest | | 25 8.05 8.50 11.55 17.05

| - 30 8.75 9.25 12.60 18.60

|

| - 10 8.15 8.55 11.60 17.10

| | 15 8.90 9.35 12.65 18.65

| 7.50 < 20 9.60 10.10 13.70 20.20

| | 25 10.30 10.85 14.70 21.75

- - 30 11.00 11.60 15.75 23.30

These tables bring out a number of very interesting primary facts:

1. The rate of interest demanded of the investment is one of the

most important factors. This is because such long terms are involved.

The charges compound with prodigious rapidity toward the last.

In any other business paying 6 per cent, compound, the maximum

investment per acre given in the preceding table, that of a land

value of $7.50 and a 30-cent annual charge for 80 years, would

earn $1,317. A 75-year forest then harvestable should have 56-1/2

M to the acre, but this would have to bring over $25 per M to pay

as well. On the other hand, the same deposits earning 4 per cent

would only amount to $338 in the same period which would be equaled

by timber at $6 per M.

2. For similar reasons, the length of time before cutting has much

to do with profit or loss. The compounding of carrying charges

eventually outstrips the production of material to a degree which

can be offset only by the most rapid rise of stumpage values.

3. The greater the investment, the more marked the above effect and

consequently the tendency to market an inferior product. A 60-year

rotation is indicated by a majority of the conditions shown.

4. A comparatively slight increase in annual tax or fire charges

may make the difference between profit and loss. Roughly, stumpage

must bring $1 per M more to compensate for each 10 cents an acre

for taxes at 5 per cent or for 7 cents at 6 per cent.

5. If the land is salable for $5 an acre or more it cannot be made to

pay 6 per cent compound interest under the most favorable conditions,

unless the stumpage received exceeds $6. At $5 stumpage and with

reasonable taxation it will pay 5 per cent if it escapes fire.

6. Thirty cents an acre is apparently about the maximum annual

carrying charge which will permit a 6 per cent profit, even with

very high stumpage prices. Consequently, while present taxes on

cut-over land are seldom prohibitive, there must be reasonable

certainty that excessive increase will not occur.

The carrying charges shown in the second table cover both fire

protection and taxes, as by reading the 15-cent line to include a

10-cent tax and a 5-cent fire patrol. The investment charge may be

used to represent sale value only, or sale value plus any expense

incurred at time of logging in order to secure reproduction, such as

leaving salable material in seed trees, or planting. If desired, any

owner may make a similar calculation on any other valuation better

fitting his own situation. The table is not intended for universal

use but merely as an illustration of how forest calculations may

be made.

WHITE PINE

Too much space would be required to give a similar table for all

western species, even were as good yield figures available. Roughly

speaking, however, western white pine, under conditions thoroughly

favorable to it, may be expected to make as good a yield as Douglas

fir, and the above fir table will not be far off for it. A probably

higher stumpage value should offset any lesser production.

HEMLOCK

Western hemlock is of somewhat, but not much, slower growth when

coming in on open land as an even-aged stand. No yield table based

on the same merchantable standards as the fir table quoted has

been prepared, but the following is fairly safe to include all

trees 14 inches in diameter used to 12 inches in the top: At 50

years, 2 M per acre; at 60 years, 22 M; at 70 years, 33 M; at 80

years, 40 M. The absence of a 40-year figure, and the sudden jump

between 50 and 60 years, is because very few hemlock trees reach 14

inches at 50 years, but a large number of 12 and 13-inch trees pass

into that class during the ten years following. Any yield figures

for an even-aged forest show a similar jump at the point where the

stand as a whole reaches the determined minimum merchantable size.

For the same reason these hemlock figures are not very far less

promising than those given for fir, for at corresponding ages the

latter include 12 and 13-inch trees and all trees are considered

merchantable to a top diameter of 8 inches.

SPRUCE

Since no systematic study of Sitka spruce second growth has been

made, it can only be predicted from knowledge of its habits that

while in favorable situation it will yield as heavily as Douglas

fir, in other localities its growth in early life is slower and

less regular, making it less likely to produce a good crop before

the carrying charges become burdensome. If this proves true, taxation

rates and land values will be extremely important factors, offset

to some degree by a smaller fire hazard and the probability of

high stumpage.

REDWOOD

For redwood we also lack good figures for any considerable range of

conditions and ages, for redwood growth which followed burns does

not exist and there are no very old cuttings. Government studies

on the northern California coast prove conclusively, however, that

this is our most rapid growing native commercial tree. In thirty

years, in fair soil, it will produce a tree of 16 inches diameter,

80 feet high, and some existing 45-year stands run 20 to 30 inches

on the stump and about 100 feet high. Reckoning 14-inch trees as

merchantable, to be used to 10 inches in the tops, a 25 to 30-year

second growth after logging near Crescent City was found to have

2-1/2 M feet to the acre and the future increase should be very

rapid. There is little question of the profit of growing redwood,

provided the difficulties described elsewhere of getting a dense

crop started are overcome.

PROFITABLE THINNINGS

In addition to the yield of saw timber to be expected when the

second crop reaches manufacturing size, there will be a market

in many cases for material obtained by thinning. It is perfectly

fair to compound for the remainder of the rotation any net profit

so obtained and to set it against the carrying charges. In many

cases it will go far to turn an apparently losing investment into

a very profitable one. Moreover, the proper thinning of growing

stands not only utilizes material which would otherwise die and

be lost before the main harvest, but actually improves the quality

of the first yield.

In obtaining the figures previously quoted the Forest Service found

that the average Douglas fir stand at 40 years contains 410 living

trees, most of them between 6 and 15 inches in diameter. At 60

years there are but 265 trees, 145 having died and decayed in the

20-year interval which were suitable for ties or other small timber

products. The remaining trees would have been improved by thinning

to prevent this loss, for the greatest diameter growth is made

when the stand is open, and the ideal is to have just the density

which will get the greatest wood production and still result in

proper pruning and clearing of the trees.

Commenting along this line Mr. T. T. Munger, who conducted the

investigation, says:

"That thinnings are silviculturally practicable and financially

profitable in the Pacific Northwest has been demonstrated. In the

vicinity of Cottage Grove, Oregon, many fully stocked even-aged

Douglas fir stands now about 50 years old, most of them forming

a part of ranches. Many of these stands have been cut over in the

last 10 years and all the material then large enough for piling or

mine timber cut out. This removed about 20 per cent of the stand.

At the present time many of these same stands now contain much

material valuable for small piles, ties and mine timber, yet the

crown canopy is as dense and the trees as close and fine quality

as though no cutting had ever been done in the stand. In fact,

some of the 50-year old stands have already been cut over a second

time, and each time with decided profit to the owner and no damage

to the forest. From one 10-acre block of second growth now 50 years

old, situated 7 miles from the railroad, already 32,000 feet of

mining timber and about 100 50-foot piles have been taken out,

yet the stand is now in good condition, and in a few years more of

the smaller trees can be removed without infringing on the yield

of the final crop. The material from these thinnings was worth at

the railroad about $80 per acre."

CONCLUSIONS

Throughout the preceding pages on the financial promise of

timber-growing in the West, the attempt has been not to give conclusions

but to state certain known facts regarding tree growth and indicate

how these may be used in arriving at conclusions based largely

upon the conditions and judgment of the individual owner. In many

cases they will do little more than suggest further investigation

necessary. The Western Forestry & Conservation Association and,

doubtless, the District Foresters for the Forest Service, will

be glad to discuss such work and assist if possible.

There are, however, several conservative deductions to be made:

1. The Pacific coast states contain large areas having species

and climatic conditions peculiarly favorable for forest-growing

as a business. The rapidity and quantity of yield insure profit

under conditions which would be prohibitive elsewhere.

2. In many cases, perhaps in most, a second crop can be started

with little initial expense.

3. There is much land of no value for any other purpose.

4. Even if the owner does not care to hold his land long enough for

another crop, or if he is prevented from doing so at some future

time by excessive taxation or other prohibition, its disposal value

will be greater if it bears young forest growth than if it does

not.

5. Stumpage values are certain to advance greatly and their advance

will be governed largely by these factors:

a. Speculative influence necessarily accompanying the lessening

of the nation's and the world's timber supply.

b. The carrying charges of fire prevention and taxation imposed

by the community upon virgin timber, which, since they represent

an investment which must be recouped, will either be added in the

long run to the price of stumpage exactly in the measure of their

severity and so transferred to the consumer, or result in rapid

cutting and consequently raise the speculative value of that which

escapes cutting. (This the consumer will pay also.)

c. The quantity of new timber grown.

6. It is probable that future demand for timber will reimburse the

cost of growing it, be this cost high or low _within reasonable

limits_.

7. This does not mean, however, that the timberland owner will or

can generally engage in the business when the cost is excessive.

While he could probably make a good profit eventually, such an

investment is too heavy and prolonged to be inviting; besides there

is the possibility of entire loss by fire. He will naturally compare

it with other investments having less disadvantages. For example,

since conditions which discourage the growing of new competing

forests tend for this very reason to enhance the value of existing

forests, he might invest further in the latter instead, with equal

ultimate profit and with easier access to his money at any time.

8. Consequently the growing of timber is promising to the private

owner only when the investment can be borne easily. Since it has

three forms--land value, fire protection, and taxation--all must

be moderate or, if one or more is high, the rest must be low.

9. With the fire hazard great at present, and taxation so uncertain

as to require allowing for its being excessive, the initial investment

must be insignificant.

10. This confines it to land of low sale value and precludes much

expense to insure the second crop.

11. To secure the perpetuation of forests on the scale essential

to public welfare, the public must provide the private owner better

fire protection and an equitable taxation system. _Or else it must

purchase sufficient cut-over land and engage in forestry itself,

bearing the cost and taking the risk._

12. Nevertheless there are several practical exceptions to the somewhat

unfavorable situation theoretically outlined above:

(a) Many owners are warranted in holding cut-over land for some

time, if not indefinitely, because of the upward trend of land

values generally. Unless clearly most useful for agriculture, such

land will be made more valuable by a growth of young timber. However

indefinite the profit of encouraging this growth and protecting it

from fire may be if the present sale value and taxes are computed

against such outlay, _the two latter charges are being carried

anyway_ and are the most important ones. Merely that it cannot

be proved that they can be more than offset is no reason for not

trying to compensate as far as possible at slight further expense.

While this may not often permit any great effort to reforest, it

will usually warrant protection of the natural new growth that

will follow if given a chance.

(b) Many owners would prefer to have their milling business continue

indefinitely. If such have or can purchase virgin timber to carry

them 50 years or more they may do well to grow a log supply to

come into use at that time, even if they would not do so merely

as a stumpage investment.

(c) It is highly probable that history will repeat itself in the

United States, especially in the Pacific coast states where every

other condition is so favorable to making forestry a great benefit

to the community, and that fire and tax discouragements will be

removed as soon as the public realizes the situation. The owner

who anticipates this and gets his crop started first will be the

first to profit from it, and since it is the compounding toward the

latter end of the rotation which now appears serious, the chances

are that he will not have a heavy burden before relief of this

kind arrives.

(d) Every owner of virgin timber which he expects to hold uncut

for 10 years or more should consider reforestation of adjacent

cut-over land in the light of fire protection also. It is the

inflammable, sun-dried, brake-covered openings, yearly increasing

in extent, which constitute his greatest fire menace. The conversion

of these into green young growth, too dense for fern and salal and

destructible only by the hottest crown fires, is the best protection

he can give mature timber surrounded by them. Some additional expense

for a few years to accomplish this will usually be cheaper and safer

than the patrol otherwise required for an indefinite period.

(e) Advance in value of the land itself, realizable when the second

crop is cut, will in many cases be great enough to make an otherwise

unpromising reforestation investment profitable.

HARDWOOD EXPERIMENTS

In the foregoing pages consideration has been given to the growing

of native coniferous species only. There is a field, however, yet

to be entered into by the timber grower in the Pacific Northwest,

which gives promise of good returns. This is the growing of eastern

hardwoods. As is well known, the supply of native hardwoods in

this region is deficient and those occurring are of poor quality.

The demand for staple hardwoods is constant, and at present can

be filled only through importation from the East. Moreover, the

manufacturing industry in the Pacific Northwest is as yet only in

its infancy, and as this industry becomes of greater importance

in the future, the demand for hardwood lumber is bound to increase.

This increase in demand, coupled with the rapidly diminishing supply

in the East, seems certain to create a condition under which it

will be profitable to grow hardwoods commercially.

That eastern species will thrive under forest conditions in this

region has not, of course, been demonstrated, but the great variety

of species planted successfully as shade trees in towns and cities, and

in many instances by settlers in the mountains and farming districts,

together with the marked success of various fruits introduced here,

would tend to indicate their adaptability to the climate. In many

respects the climate along the coast of Oregon and Washington is

similar to that found throughout the great hardwood region of the

Southern Appalachian mountains.

Of the many species occurring in the East, several appear preëminently

suited to experimentation because of their particular value in the

trade and rapid growth. Hickory is one of the most valuable of

eastern woods, and the supply remaining is probably least of all

the important species. It is largely used in the vehicle industry,

and because of the fact that the trade can use trees of small size,

and even prefers "second growth" hickory to the more mature form,

a crop can be grown within a comparatively short time. Shagbark or

pignut are probably the best species to plant. Red oak is another

species for which there is a large demand, and while it does not

equal the white oak in value, its more rapid growth makes it a

more desirable species to grow. The increasing scarcity of white

oak has brought about the substitution of red oak for many purposes

for which the more superior variety was formerly used exclusively.

Black walnut is a wood highly prized in furniture manufacture, and

this, coupled with its rapid growth, places it among the first

rank of hardwood trees. Chestnut, white ash, tulip, poplar and

black cherry are other species whose value for various purposes

suggests the possible advisability of their introduction.

Much that has been said in the chapter concerning the methods of

establishing coniferous woods applies equally well to hardwoods.

Those species, however, whose seeds are in the form of nuts, such

as hickories, black walnut, chestnuts, and oaks, are particularly

adapted to propagation by direct seeding. Other species, such as

ash, tulip, poplar, and black cherry, whose seeds are small, are

better grown for one year in nurseries before transplanting into the

field. Where plantations are started by planting the nuts directly

in the field, the cost will be moderate. The nuts can be obtained

in any quantity from eastern seed dealers, and their cost, together

with the labor of planting them, should not exceed $4 per acre. Where

the area planted is level and free from underbrush, preliminary

plowing and harrowing, while adding $1.50 to $2 to the cost per

acre, will add much to the success of the plantation. Cultivation

during the early years of the life of the trees will also result

in increased growth.